This is rather a large topic so we'll take it in stages.
First of all you need to know the concepts.
Know your weaknesses
All armies have some weaknesses. You need to identify yours. Ok, so you know you have no decent missile troops or your army moves slowly or your overall toughness is low. What are you going to do about it ?
It's like a boxing match. If you're not a great puncher don't stand toe to toe with your opponent - pick him off with jabs and wear him down until he's weak enough for you to put him on his backside.
You need to do whatever you can to cater for your weaknesses. Make a plan, not a detailed plan just a strategy.
For example, you plan to flank him on the right and hold the left with missile troops and artillery.
Know your units strengths and the enemy unit weaknesses.
Certain units are great at fighting certain other types of units. Watch where your enemy deploys his troops and deploy yours to make the most of your unit strengths.
Know the battle rules especially psychology.
Fear and terror should be top of your list. Make sure you know and use these as much as possible if you have Fear or Terror inducing units and characters in your army. Beef up fear inducing troops to make sure you outnumber your enemy, win the combat resolution and make them rout. Equally as important is the stubborn rule, stubborn troops are priceless and don't have to be fielded in as large units to be effective.
Know your enemy !
Don't forget the old saying 'no plan survives contact with then enemy'
Make sure you know all the other army strengths and weaknesses so you can try to anticipate their likely tactics.
This will help you to put together a more flexible outline plan. For instance, I will try to do A, if I suceed I will do B unless the enemy does C first in which case I will do Z.
keep it simple though !
Know the magic items
(not just weapons & armour but talismans, enchanted, arcane and banners aswell)
Combine them with the right units to fit your plan. Defenvis units who are holding the line should have defensive type magic items. Don't waste too many points though on dispensable units. The battle will be won by your core offensive units not 10 handgunners !
Don't forget special abilities and bound magic items.
So many people forget to do things in the 'heat of battle' so make a list (!), in the order of phases to remind yourself. Eg:-
'Movement'
gobbo fanatics
'Magic'
Swordmasters hero - bound spell.
Well that's about it for now. I'll go into more detail when I return to this topic.
Please check back regularly because I will be writing a lot more about tactics, especially for beginners. Also, I will be doing a lot of stats analysis (to save you rolling hundreds of dice !).
